


Fever

by nerdqueenenterprise



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-06-26
Packaged: 2019-05-28 17:33:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15054299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdqueenenterprise/pseuds/nerdqueenenterprise
Summary: Hugh catches a serious case of the flu.





	Fever

“I love you,” Hugh croaks.

Paul sits down, careful to not disturb his love too much. He can’t see much of Hugh’s face - he’s got the blanket tugged up to just underneath his eye and wrapped all around his head too, and when he touches Hugh’s forehead it’s still hot.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t call anyone?”

“’S jus’ a fever, Paul. Go on shift, I’ll be fine.”

“Right. Sleep well, my love.”

Paul strokes his partner’s skin again and gets up, turning the light off at the door. It swishes open and Hugh’s lashes flutter for a moment before he goes absolutely still again, and then Paul tiptoes back to the couch. He sits down, as quietly as he can, takes his PADD from the coffee table and turns it on. 

Sure, maybe it’s just a fever, but Hugh is feeling absolutely horrid, and even though Paul isn’t going to force him to take any meds since it really is just a nasty bout of the flu, he is also very much not going to leave him alone. Especially not now that it got even worse than yesterday.

 

 

 

 

Hugh spends the next five hours completely motionless and asleep. He isn’t even disturbed by Paul’s absolute quietest puttering around (hey, he just made a cup of tea), and if Paul hadn’t been assured that it really is just the flu, he would really be worried. As much as Hugh likes to deny it, Paul isn’t the only wriggly sleeper in the relationship.

Also luckily the tricorder’s reach extends well to the bed, so Paul can check up on him without having to disturb him.

 

 

 

 

Hugh moves a little and moans into the blanket. It’s not a happy sound at all. Paul’s attention snaps to his man immediately, watching him critically.

The tricorder confirms something that’s mostly alpha waves. So Hugh is awake.

A minute after his first sound Hugh moves again, sluggishly pushing the blanket out of the way before sitting up.

Paul sets his PADD aside and heads over.

“Love?”

Hugh blinks at him with heavy lids. He seems to want to make a sound, but his throat isn’t cooperating.

“What do you need?”

“Y’re s’pos’d t’ be on shift.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to leave you here when you feel like crap. What do you need?”

“Nothin’. Jus’… bathroom.”

Paul helps Hugh up and steadies him when he stumbles. Hugh is still burning up, and his shirt is sticking to him with sweat.

He’s secure enough on his feet that Paul lets him go to the bathroom on his own, but he can’t help but hover around the door, waiting for him to come back out.

When Hugh does, he looks at least mildly more alive, having changed into fresh pajamas and washed his face. Paul cups his cheek for a moment, checking his love over for a moment.

“Back to bed?”

Hugh shakes his head.

“Couch?”

“Mhm.”

Paul leads him over and wraps him in his favorite fluffy blanket. Hugh settles, closing his eyes. He still looks incredibly unwell.

“Tea?”

“Please.”

Paul switches on the water cooker and while that’s doing its thing he hunts through their drawers for a pair of warm socks, because Hugh is going to get cold feet and then he’ll be even more miserable.

When the water is done he puts in the strainer and adds a spoonful of honey for good measure. Hugh loves honey in his tea, and even more so when he’s sick, and when Paul hands him the mughe flutters his lashes in thanks. It’s all he can do at the moment, apparently, so Paul socks his lover’s feet up and then sits next to him. 

Hugh quietly sips his tea, letting Paul take out the strainer eventually. When he’s halfway done, his hands start shaking enough that Paul also takes the mug away and sets it down on the table.

“Come here, love,” he says quietly.

Hugh leans into his embrace.

“You’ll get sick too.”

“I already have all your cooties, my love. It’s okay.” Paul rubs little circles into Hugh’s neck, and they stay like this for a while.

Hugh seems to fall into a doze and Paul just keeps supporting his weight. 

If he’s honest, he hasn’t seen Hugh this miserable. Ever. 

Sure, medbay tested his blood, and there is really nothing to worry about, but poor Hugh is so miserable.

 

 

 

 

Predictably, Hugh wakes up with a massive crick in his neck, and his face is a perfect, unironical :(.

“Hey,” Paul whispers.

Hugh makes a tiny sad sound and wriggles into Paul with as little energy as possible.

“How do you feel?”

“Still like shit. Kinda wanna go back to bed.”

“You want me to change the sheets before you do? I think you sweated through all of them.”

“Don’ have to. It’s already - already enough you let me sleep on you.”

Paul sets a little kiss on Hugh’s forehead.

“Don’t worry about it. Anything for my poor sick boyfriend.”

He disentangles himself from Hugh and makes sure he’s leaning against the couch’s back and won’t suddenly fall over. 

Hugh’s eyes close as soon as Paul withdraws his touch, and Paul heads over to the bed. 

He’s probably never stripped and replaced sheets as quick as he does now, but Hugh’s tiny sigh when Paul helps him lie down is worth the exertion.

“Stay with me?”

“Of course.” Paul lets Hugh crawl into his arms again, and then that’s where Hugh stays and falls asleep again.

 

 

 

 

Hugh manages five spoons of chicken broth before looking at Paul like he just saw a kitten being violently kicked, so Paul helps him back into bed and sings him to sleep. Not that it’s particularly difficult to get Hugh to fall asleep, but he asked for it.

The next morning looks a little better at first, but then Hugh spends some quality time with his head over the toilet and doesn’t even say anything when Paul doesn’t go on his shift again.

They spend the day in bed, with Hugh asleep something like 16 hours with the occasional bathroom break so his body can try to expel the emptiness in his stomach.

Paul helps him shower sometime in the middle of the night and manages to feed Hugh some tea and crispbread, which he thankfully manages to keep down.

Day three looks pretty similar, only Hugh eats a little more, is awake a bit more and almost back to a normal human temperature.

 

 

 

 

“Thank you, my love.”

Paul chuckles and sets the breakfast tray down on the bed.

“Do you think you can eat a little?”

“Yeah! Yeah, I do feel lots better. Thank you.”

Paul nurses his tea while Hugh eats. He still picks at his food more than he actually eats, but he does look better. There’s some life back in his eyes and his fingers aren’t trembling anymore.

“I don’t want to be ungrateful, but you should go on shift, Paul.”

“Not a chance.”

“Paul -”

“I hold the rank of admiral in the department of Caring For Doctor Culber. Means I outrank you. And it’s not like I haven’t done any work at all just because I’m watching over you.” He reaches out to brush fingers over Hugh’s cheek. “Also you would’ve dragged yourself back to work way too early if I hadn’t hung around and let you actually feel as sick as you are.”

Hugh smiles. “Maybe so. Love… I don’t deserve you, you know that? Thank you for taking care of me.”

“You deserve everything, Hugh. And if you disagree, I’m going to have to do something drastic.”

“Oh yeah?”

 

 

 

 

Hugh literally just walks through the door to their quarters after his first (half) shift back at work when Paul’s stomach decides it would prefer being empty even though he already came back early from his shift to sit on the couch and be miserable. So after Hugh puts him into bed it’s his turn to put an absence for private reasons into his duty roster with a message to the CMO that Paul caught his flu.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading this lil thing! if you enjoyed it, please leave a comment and come say hi on [tumblr](http://www.shroom-boi.tumblr.com) <3


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